Voter turnout at the firehouse at Avenue A and 16th Street in Bayonne has been brisk and of eight voters interviewed leaving the firehouse this evening, six said they voted for mayoral candidate Jimmy Davis while two voted for the reelection of Mayor Mark Smith.

“Turnout has been heavier than usual but not as big as the presidential election,” an election official in the firehouse told The Jersey Journal. “We always expect it to get heavier when people get out of work but it almost never happens.”

A challenger in the firehouse agreed.

“Turnout has been excellent,'' she said. "The voting is much higher than normal, which is great.”

A Bayonne school teacher also said he would vote for Davis, saying, “the schools are a barometer of the health of the community and you have to have a good relationship with your school union. … Maybe Smith is the better candidate, but does he really have your back or is it just empty rhetoric?”

A Washington Parkway woman said her vote would go to the mayor.

“I think he had a good start and I think we should let him continue,” she said, adding that she said she would vote for Smith's entire slate for city council as well.

Another Washington Parkway woman said she voted for Davis but not with much enthusiasm.

“I think there are a lot of good and bad things about Davis and Smith,'' she said. "It’s almost a tossup.”

She voted for Davis’ entire ticket, she said, because “whoever is the outsider is handicapped.”